Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

 

Welcome Back, Booklovers! This week I jumped into a historical mystery debut that's the start of a new series. I would like to preface this review by stating this is not a cozy mystery like I've seen people incorrectly assume just based off seeing the pretty cover. It's an amateur detective novel where the violence and sexuality are on page. So set your expectations accordingly. I received an advanced copy from Berkley in exchange for an honest review.

Dead Dead Girls is set in 1926 Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance era following Louise Lloyd. The story opens up with her being kidnapped as a teenager and fending off her capturers saving both herself and other girls who have also been taken.  She is dubbed Harlem's Hero her name becomes well known in the area.

Ten years later, Louise is coasting through life working in a café during the day while dancing and guzzling illegal alcohol by night. She's buried the trauma of her kidnapping for so long behind getting drunk until it's brought to the forefront again. Women are being murdered by a serial killer and she becomes involved when one of the bodies appears in front of her place of employment which also operates as a not so secretive speakeasy at night. After an altercation with the cops it's earlier help them out or face prison and worse. So Louise partners with them to get into spaces white cops wouldn't be able to while tracking down the, "Girl Killer". 

At first the formatting of the chapters is a little bit to get used to as the author employs this technique of using shorter chapters. They also often end in foreshadowing cliffhangers in a style reminiscent of radio dramas. This is mostly in the first half of the book as opposed to the second half of the book and I don't feel like it was needed. 

I can tell Nekesa Afia had fun with the 1920s slang, dances, and fashion. This is actually a story where I would've preferred some name dropping even if it's fictional names because while jazz music is spoken about and played in the clubs we don't hear Louise and friends mention any artists by name. Diving deeper into those details really makes a difference and I hope we get more into Black Urban identity and culture in Harlem. Because sometimes it gave a feeling it could be set anywhere and sometimes the story read a little contemporary.

The strongest elements of the story were definitely Louise's camaraderie with friends Rafael and Rosa Maria and the complicated relationships with both her family. I liked when it dove into her unresolved trauma and how she has had to cope. It really acknowledges how stumbling across these dead bodies starts to put a strain on her. 

While it is easy to romanticize the 1920s there were also people who were rebuilding their lives after The Great Migration. There were people scraping to get by and crime was rampant in some neighborhoods. There were Black innovators and entrepreneur establishing themselves. Dead Dead Girls did touch on some of this showing that life wasn't just a cakewalk. 

Louise holds her own and plays well opposite every character she comes across making for an entertaining read. This book was a solid start to a series that has a lot of potential and I only saw the writing improve the further into it we got.